8 Ways to Lower Blood Sugar & Fix Insulin Resistance ON A BUDGET!

Timestamps ⏱

0:00 – Intro – Budget Ways to Reduce Blood Sugar
0:10 – Apple Cider Vinegar
1:20 – Soluble Fiber
3:12 – Use Code THOMAS for 20% off Nush’s Protein Pancakes!
4:25 – Magnesium
5:55 – Raspberries
6:52 – Probiotics
8:14 – Exercise
8:43 – Water
9:23 – Protein and then Fat

SUMMARY OF AUTHOR’S THOUGHTS

The author suggests some budget-friendly ways to regulate glucose and insulin levels, starting with the use of apple cider vinegar.

The author mentions a study that shows that consuming 20 grams of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water prior to a meal can increase insulin sensitivity in the body and reduce post-meal spikes in glucose levels. This is believed to be due to the acetic acid in the vinegar, which acts as a disaccharide inhibitor and slows down the digestion of starches, thus slowing the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. The author emphasizes the effectiveness and affordability of using apple cider vinegar as a means of regulating glucose and insulin levels.

IN THE AUTHOR’S OWN WORDS…

So here’s what I’ve got for you, some budget ways to modulate glucose and modulate insulin a little bit more.

Let’s just jump right in because it’s really straightforward stuff. The first one, apple cider vinegar, talk about cheap. Okay, you’re talking about a bottle of apple cider vinegar you can get for three or four dollars that’s going to last you a month or two because you only need a tablespoon or two.

There’s a study that’s published in the general Diabetes Care that took a look at healthy individuals compared to insulin resistant individuals and they gave them 20 grams of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water okay compared to a placebo in a glass of water. Well, what they found is that in the insulin resistant individuals it increased whole body insulin sensitivity after consuming a meal, not just localized insulin sensitivity. It increased insulin sensitivity in the entire body and also lowered those postprandial spikes by having just a small amount of apple cider vinegar prior to eating a meal.

Now, the reason behind this is simple in most cases. Now there’s other sort of a metabolic cellular things, but the simplest thing is the digestive piece. The acetic acid is a disaccharide inhibitor so it slows down the enzymatic ability to break down the starches. So the starch is therefore just get into the system slower. It kind of acts like a little bit of a stop sign for a minute to slow down the absorption. It’s powerful and it’s cheap.

The next one is another cheap one and that is soluble fiber. Okay, I talk about this a lot but hear me out on this. There was a study that was published in the journal Experimental and therapeutic medicine took a look at 117 type 2 diabetics okay and for one month they had them consume either zero grams of fiber, 10 grams of fiber or 20 grams of fiber. Can you guess what happened? The higher the fiber intake, the more they were able to bring down their levels of insulin resistance and bring down their postprandial glucose levels in a dose-dependent fashion.

So, all it took was 10 grams or 20 grams of fiber per day.

That is it, and that was able to massively change their insulin resistance. So, again this works in two ways. One, it sort of acts like a traffic light, once again, where things that are normally absorbing into the bloodstream really fast now have a stop sign or a traffic light they have to stop at because fiber slows things down. But there’s a much deeper thing that’s going on there specifically with things like soluble fiber and flax and things like Chia things like that when they sit in their gut and they ferment.

Because they sort of get gelatinous and they kind of swell up with water, what ends up happening is they draw not just water into there but they actually allow the bacteria to feed on it. This is what’s interesting. Once the bacteria feed, then you have short chain fatty acids like butyrate, propane ate, and acetate. This is what’s wild, this triggers the expression or the activation even of ppary, which actually tells the cell programs the cell to cast a net into the bloodstream to bring glucose in. So, glute 4 is the little shuttle bus that brings glucose out of the bloodstream into the cell. So, it becomes a messenger to tell the cell to get better at grabbing glucose. It is really, really wild.

So, you’ve got flax, you’ve got whey protein, you’ve got egg, you’ve got baking soda, you’ve got monk fruit erythritol, really that’s it. It’s got really not much else other than maybe a little coconut flour. So, really just clean ingredients if you ask me, but it’s also fun and 10 grams of fiber so 10 grams of fiber coming from the flax again. So, you’re getting this soluble fiber but forget all that stuff. It tastes awesome, you’re able to get pancakes back in your life again. So, they have their original pancakes, but now they have their protein-packed pancakes that have some whey protein in there. So, now you’re having a complete breakfast and one of the things I’m going to talk about later in this video is prioritizing protein to help with glucose as well. So, you really have a double whammy effect.

Next one that’s really inexpensive that people for some reason feel like it’s expensive but it’s not is supplementing magnesium. It’s really difficult to get adequate amounts of magnesium from our food these days, so just 300 milligrams of magnesium per day can make a huge difference. Generally, I like diamagnesium malate, however, that’s a little bit more of an expensive one. But there’s a study that took a look at 54 people with type 2 diabetes that use a relatively inexpensive magnesium. I think they were using like sulfate or something really inexpensive in this case, okay? And they found that 300 milligrams of this versus placebo for three months massively affected their insulin levels. It brought down their insulin levels, it brought down their postprandial glucose levels. Now, they saw this predominantly in the two-hour postprandial window. This is very important. People like to measure their fasting glucose, which is great, but a real testament to how your body is responding is how you respond two hours after a meal. If your glucose hasn’t come back down after two hours, you might have a problem there.

Now, the reason that this works is once again magnesium affects Glut4 translocation, or so they think, helps glucose get into the cell. But the other piece that’s not really mentioned in this particular study is magnesium is required for ATP formation and our beta cells and our pancreas that produce insulin, they need energy and they need ATP to function. So, if we’re deficient in magnesium, the beta cells don’t actually produce as much insulin, so you become insulin resistant at two levels the cell level and at the pancreatic level.

Okay, this next one is really inexpensive, Raspberries. Now, raspberries are more expensive than say strawberries, so if you’re really on a budget maybe go for the strawberries, but bang for the buck, I do think you get more out of raspberries. Now, the reason behind it is the tannins, which is a specific polyphenol that is an alpha amylase inhibitor. So, there’s a study that was published in the Journal of Agriculture in Food that found that okay, this is pretty cool. Raspberries have these tannins that actually stop or slow down a particular enzyme from breaking down starches. So when you have starches that are like this, this enzyme normally comes in and breaks the starches apart, so you absorb the glucose well. That enzyme slows down or goes away because raspberries have these tannins and alpha amylase inhibitor. Fun fact, if you were to test your glucose after eating some raspberries and along with some carbohydrates, you might notice that you don’t spike your blood glucose as much. It’s a very budget-friendly way to just add a small handful of raspberries once or twice a day.

This next one is super wild, probiotics, does it mean have to go buy a probiotic supplement no? We’re going to talk about some probiotic foods too. There’s a study published in Plos one that was a meta-analysis with 17 different studies and they found that unanimously across these studies when probiotics were added.

Okay, nutritionally or through supplementation, there were better responses to glucose and lower overall fasting levels of insulin, lower postprandial insulin and lower postprandial glucose. That is pretty unanimous with 17 studies. That’s very, very powerful. So, yes, you can go the probiotic route that certainly helps, but you can also go with something like kefir which might be a little bit more expensive like like dairy kefir, water kefir, that’s yeah that costs some money for sure, but kimchi that’s a pretty dirt cheap one. I mean you can go expensive and go to Whole Foods or like I call it whole paycheck, you can go to Whole Foods or whole paycheck and you can spend nine dollars on some kimchi because it’s been blessed by a magical dog and whatever or you can just get some simple kimchi that you get a grocery outlet for two or three dollars and it’s going to do the job just fine. So, something simple like that. The other piece of the equation is the benefits of this probiotic effect are probably similar to what we’re getting from fiber. So, when we kind of come back to the flax, we come back to all that, that combination could seriously be money.

The next one is one that you probably don’t want to hear, but unfortunately, it’s probably the most powerful one, exercise. I know you’re going to turn up the video okay now we’re getting boring and simple. Another, I’ve heard it all, no. Okay, here’s the thing, exercise simply moving your body is an insulin-independent way to get glucose out of the bloodstream into the muscle, meaning it doesn’t require any insulin, and you’re going to suck up glucose into the muscle cell, just move, and it doesn’t matter how much on a budget you are, that is going to work. Okay, the next one is water. Now, you’re probably thinking again, this is too basic, too simple, well hear this out. There’s a study that was published in diabetes and metabolic syndrome took a look at six different studies, so a small meta-analysis and I found that across the board, more water intake led to lower levels of glucose on average. Drinking more water brought glucose levels down six percent. A, you probably don’t eat as much, but B, you’re diluting the enzymatic process so you’re not absorbing as much glucose as fast. Hypothetically, if you were to consume a bunch of sugar with no water or a bunch of sugar with some water, you might absorb it with the water a little bit slower.

This next one though is really interesting, the order in which you eat your food might be one of the most powerful and inexpensive things that you can do. Eating protein first, there’s a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, okay? Had subjects fast overnight 10 12 hours and then it had them consumed 50 grams of carbohydrates from a glucose oral solution like super pure glucose, but prior to that, they consumed either 0, 5, 10 or 30 grams of protein or fat. When they consumed protein prior to the carb solution, it was two times more powerful at bringing glucose down or attenuating glucose compared to fat. Now, albeit fat still brought glucose down but half as much as protein did. Now, the interesting thing is this was dose dependent, the more protein someone had first, the more effect it had on the glucose, so simply by looking at a plate of food and having your protein first, you can have like a 2X powerful effect on your glucose, it’s pretty darn cool. So, anyhow, here’s some things on a budget, make it happen.

SOME ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

How to Reduce Blood Sugar Level Immediately (+ Food & Meal Ideas)

In this article we’ll take a closer look at how to reduce blood sugar level immediately, and what foods help lower blood sugar over time.

There isn’t one food that will magically protect your body from developing diabetes. But there are some foods that research has proven can help promote healthy blood sugar levels over time. Keep reading to learn how to reduce blood sugar levels immediately, foods that help lower blood sugars, and which foods to eat in the moment when your blood sugar is higher than you’d like.

10 tips for healthy eating with diabetes

There are different types of diabetes, and no two people with diabetes are the same. So there isn’t a one-size-fits-all ‘diabetes diet’ for everyone with diabetes. But we’ve come up with tips that you can use to help you make healthier food choices.

These healthy eating tips are general and can help you manage your blood glucose (sugar), blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They can also help you manage your weight and reduce the risk of diabetes complications, such as heart problems and strokes, and other health conditions including certain types of cancers.

The links above are affiliate links, so I receive a small commission every time you use them to purchase a product. The content contained in this video, and its accompanying description, is not intended to replace viewers’ relationships with their own medical practitioner. Always speak with your doctor regarding the content of this channel, and especially before using any products, services, or devices discussed on this channel or website.